1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of support poles which are used to retain sterile bags of medicine with fluid transportation lines which are connected to the sterile bag at one end and at the opposite end may be directly connected to a needle inserted into a patient for intravenous administration of medicine or alternatively connected to a motorized dispensing machine which regulates the dosage of medicine and period of time for intravenous medicine administration with a separate fluid transportation line extending from the dispensing machine to a needle inserted into a patient.
The support poles in the field of the present invention involves intravenous administration of medicine to a patient in a hospital, a medical care facility, nursing homes, and other location where a patient is usually in a hospital bed and receives intravenous medication.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The following nine patents are the closest prior art known to the inventors.
1. U.S. Pat. No. 3,709,372 issued to Larry T. Alexander on Jan. 9, 1973 for “Intravenous Supply Container Support” (hereafter the “Alexander Patent”);
2. U.S. Pat. No. 5,174,533 issued to Jeffrey W. Pryor et al. Dec. 29, 1992 for “Adjustable Instrument Mounting Assembly” (hereafter the “Pryor Patent”);
3. U.S. Pat. No. Des. 364,555 issued to Todd W. Neiert on Nov. 28, 1995 for “Intravenous Bottle Stand Clamp” (hereafter the “Neiert Design Patent”);
4. U.S. Pat. No. Des. 370,061 issued to Terry L. Shirley on May 21, 1996 for “I.V. Pole Clamp” (hereafter the “Shirley Design Patent”);
5. U.S. Pat. No. 6,079,678 issued to Jeffrey C. Schott et al. on Jun. 27, 2000 for “Intravenous Stand Support Assembly” (hereafter the “Schott Patent”);
6. U.S. Pat. No. 6,585,207 issued to Scott Alan Ibbitson et al. on Jul. 1, 2003 for “Safety Clamp Holder” (hereafter the “Ibbitson Patent”);
7. U.S. Pat. No. 7,182,032 issued to David C. Lindemann on Feb. 27, 2007 for “Clamp Tool Device and Method fo Using” (hereafter the “Lindemann Patent”);
8. U.S. Pat. No. 8,141,839 issued to Michael R. Buchner on Mar. 27, 2012 for “Pole Mounting Device” (hereafter the “Buchner Patent”);
9. U.S. Pat. No. 8,459,602 issued to Arnold Herskovic on Jun. 11, 2013 for “Clamping Device” (hereafter the “Herskovic Patent”).
The Alexander Patent discloses a standard pole which is affixed to a bed and then a cross bar which is affixed to the pole. This is described in detail in FIGS. 4 and 5 and discussed in Column 2 Lines 30 through 67 of the patent text.
The Pryor Patent discloses: an adjustable mounting assembly for mounting an instrument on a support member having a first clamping device for releasable clamping engagement with the support member and a second clamping device for securing to an instrument or piece of equipment, with a lockable, adjustable connection between the two clamping devices allowing adjustment about two perpendicular axes to allow the instrument orientation to be adjusted.”
The Neiert Design Patent discloses a design patent for an intravenous bottle stand clamp.
The Shirley Design Patent discloses a single clamping mechanism.
The Schott Patent discloses a pole affixed to a bed post by the double arcuate members.
The Ibbitson Patent discloses: an adjustable clamp holder having multiple securing mechanisms for each attachment structure of the clamp body. The clamp has utility in fastening together support rods and supporting an apparatus or laboratory equipment.
The Lindemann Patent discloses a clamp tool for use in holding a boat in a relatively stationary position while the boat is floating in shallow water.
The Buchner Patent discloses a mounting device for a pole comprising: a holder portion having an open first end, a spaced, open second end, an interior surface and an exterior surface, said interior surface being shaped at said first end to define a pole cavity sized to receive an end of said pole, said interior surface of said holder portion being shaped to define a ball socket spaced in from said second end of said holder portion, a support portion having an elongated rod with a first end and a spaced second end, and a ball on said first end of said rod, said ball being sized to fit into said ball socket to form a ball joint with said ball socket with said rod extending transverse to said holder portion and said holder portion being rotatable relative to said rod about a first axis and about a second axis transverse to said first axis, and means, connected to said second end of said rod, for removably attaching said support portion to a structure, whereby said pole is positioned by rotation of said holder portion about said first and second axes.
The Herskovic Patent discloses a clamping device for attaching a piece of first moveable equipment to a piece of second moveable equipment comprising a body, a mounting portion, and an attachment portion. The attachment portion comprises an attachment recess disposed within the body for receiving the piece of first movable equipment, and a latch plate rotatably attached to the body at a pivot disposed on one side of said attachment recess, wherein the latch plate may be pivotally disposed between an open position and a closed position. The latch plate further having an attachment lock disposed within the latch plate.
None of the prior art references addresses the problems identified by the present inventors. The problems are in general that in the hospital setting, most hospital beds have at least one extended pole into which there is a clamp which connects a long pole that has the various IV medications attached to the pole in almost a circular configuration or in a multiplicity of extending configurations wherein there is one IV bag per pole and the bag has a tube coming from it and each respective tube is then connected to a motorized dispensing apparatus which dispenses the medication from the particular bag into an IV needle that dispenses specific quantities of medication to the patient at specific times. If the patient needs to be transported from one location to another such as from the hospital bed to another hospital facility within the hospital such as a CAT scan, an MRI, etc. or if the patient needs to be transferred from one room to another, the standard practice is to have the long pole which has wheels on it and has the heavy IV medication and motorized dispensing machines thereon moved by one attendant while another attendant pushes the patient's bed and a third attendant follows to be sure that no lines become disconnected as the patient is being transported from one location to another.
Other problems associated with the use of a long pole is that hospital elevators are long but usually not wide and the additional width created by the long pole adjacent the bed makes it more difficult to use an elevator to transport a patient from one location to another.
There is a significant need to address these problems.